Title :
Utilization of discrete event simulation in the prospective determination of optimal cardiovascular lab processes
Author :
Pirolo, John ; Ray, Abhijit ; Gadzinski, Matt ; Manese, Mario ; Garvert, Brannon ; Scoville, George ; Walpole, Howard ; Amland, Bob ; Boos, Rebecca ; Mamminga, Ian ; Brown, Joan ; Donlon, Kipp
Author_Institution :
St. Thomas Health Services, Nashville, TN, USA
Abstract :
The clinical character of cardiovascular disease creates challenges in optimizing cardiovascular catheterization lab (CVL) throughput. These challenges are due to case load fluctuations caused by unscheduled Emergency Department patients and simultaneous conflicting demands on cardiologist time. The simulation model provides insight into the complex relationship between patient acuity, treatment, occurrence of queues and bottlenecks in the transfer of patients. The study performed a comparative analysis between CVL operational schemes and assessed how those schemes impacted a variety of metrics related to throughput improvement. A current state model was developed, pertinent data was collected for the patient group and validation of the model was performed. Analysis of simulation results determined the most efficient CVL schedule and resource allocation to improve throughput and resource utilization. The study provides objective guidance to the optimal process modification and allows comparison of the relative differences in cost between the several redesign options.
Keywords :
cardiovascular system; discrete event simulation; diseases; health care; optimisation; cardiovascular catheterization lab optimizing; cardiovascular disease; discrete event simulation; emergency department patients; optimal cardiovascular lab processes; process modification; prospective determination; simulation model; state model; Analytical models; Cardiology; Cardiovascular diseases; Catheterization; Discrete event simulation; Fluctuations; Medical treatment; Performance analysis; Resource management; Throughput;
Conference_Titel :
Simulation Conference (WSC), Proceedings of the 2009 Winter
Conference_Location :
Austin, TX
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-5770-0
DOI :
10.1109/WSC.2009.5429208